Authorities are withholding a decision on the circumstances that led to the Sunday shooting death of 3 year-old Jayceon Karter O’Neil pending further examination of evidence collected at the scene of the death, Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said.

He said police are presently treating the case as a death investigation.

“We have collected a number items at the scene and they will be sent to the State Crime Lab for examination,” Armstrong said. He said the items were expected to be sent to the crime lab either Tuesday or Wednesday. The crime lab was closed Monday for Confederate Memorial Day, a state holiday.

Jayceon died early Sunday afternoon from a gunshot wound to the chest at a home at 2004 Ford St. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey. An autopsy was ordered and the child’s body was taken to the State Crime Lab.

Armstrong said officers responding to the call about 12:23 p.m. found the child on the floor of the house being attended to by Vicksburg Fire Department paramedics. He said a man identified as the child’s father, told officers he was asleep in the house at the time of the shooting.

The man said the child apparently got the gun from a drawer where it was kept. While handling the gun, it went off, striking the child in the chest.